The Supreme Court is to hear the case on Michigan's affirmative- action ban in the fall. / J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press

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Detroit Free Press Education Writer

The driving forces behind affirmative-action bans in several states urged the U.S. Supreme Court in a filing on Monday to uphold a Michigan voter-approved initiative outlawing the use of affirmative action in college admissions.

Monday’s filing notes the court’s ruling last week in an affirmative-action case involving the University of Texas.

“The court has been clear that race-preference policies can only exist to the extent they benefit all students by creating a ‘diverse’ educational environment,” said Jennifer Gratz, one of the chief organizers behind the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, otherwise known as Proposal 2, the 2006 voter-approved ban on the use of affirmative action in college admissions and state hiring.

“The court has clearly said that race-preference policies designed to benefit some racial ‘groups’ over others are patently unconstitutional,” Gratz said in a news release announcing the filing.

Those who want to see the ban overturned argue that the case is about equal access.

“Michigan's Prop. 2 aims to unfairly keep students from encouraging universities to consider race as one factor in admissions, but does not do the same for those who are trying to get the school to acknowledge other factors, such as legacy or athletic achievement,” the ACLU of Michigan said in a statement. “Prop. 2 allows alumni to simply drop in on admissions committee members to lobby for a legacy policy, yet forces proponents of admissions policies that include students from broadly diverse backgrounds, including all racial and ethnic groups, to hit the streets with petitions to amend the Michigan Constitution before they can have the same chance.”

Monday’s court filing is signed by organizers of Proposal 2 and similar affirmative-action bans enacted in California, Washington, Nebraska, New Hampshire and Arizona. The leader of a proposed ban in Colorado is also a signatory.

It’s one of what is expected to be several such filings by interest groups before the Supreme Court hears the case this fall. The case involves Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s appeal of a lower federal court ruling that threw out the guts of Proposal 2.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last November focused on university admissions, although the ballot initiative approved by Michigan voters, 58%-42%, also banned the use of affirmative action in government contracting and hiring. Lawyers said the federal appeals court opinion struck down only what some consider the most significant piece, dealing with university admissions.

The appeals court said the state ban on affirmative action violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution by making it more difficult for a minority student to get a university to adopt a race-conscious admissions policy than for a white student to get a university to adopt an admissions policy that considers family alumni connections.

Last week, the Supreme Court returned a case against the University of Texas to a lower court, asking it to look harder at whether the school had used all possible race-neutral admissions policies to get a diverse student body.